G. wanted to introduce her friend to letterboxing so I took the girls out on Wednesday - the only dry day this entire week - to find some boxes.

I have been hoping that this game might teach my 10-year-old better organizational skills but I'm not sure that's working out as well as I'd hoped.

The game seems so simple -- stamp your log book with the box's stamp then stamp your stamp into the box's log book. But man, when a couple of kids get together, one of which is a bit organizationally-challenged, extra time is needed to do the stamp exchange. And more often than not, I have to take charge afterwards to help re-organize everyone's stuff again. Yesterday was no exception.

Ever since our first find I've made sure we take the box a distance away from its hiding spot in case a muggle (non-player) walks by while we're exchanging stamp impressions. It usually takes us 10-15 minutes to do the exchange and then re-hide the box.

At least with the boxes we hid at the library, the kids can sit down at a table and spread everything out. G. likes those boxes a lot (which probably has something to do with the fact that she helped make them) and usually suggests her friends new to the game try them first.

Muggles are less of a problem at the library since the librarians monitor our boxes (a few of them are letterboxers themselves) so they aren't pilfered.

E-mail this entry to a friend